Gary D. Badcock

Background

Gary D. Badcock was born on January 13, 1961, in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, Canada, to Fred Badcock and Olive (Pilgrim) Badcock.

Education

Badcock graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland as a Bachelor of Arts in 1981, as well as a Master of Arts in 1984. He then received his Bachelor of Divinity degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1987, and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1991.

Career

Badcock started his career at the University of Aberdeen, taking a position of a teaching fellow for a year from 1991.

He moved to the University of Edinburgh as the Meldrum Lecturer in Dogmatic Theology in 1993, becoming an associate dean of divinity faculty in 1997, holding that position till 1999. Badcock has held the Peache Chair of Divinity at Huron University College since 1999. His teaching spans the areas of Christine doctrine, philosophical theology and ethics.

Badcock published his book Light of Truth and Fire of Love in 1997, and his book The Way of Life: A Theology of Christian Vocation a year later. His book The House Where God Lives: The Doctrine of the Church was issued in 2009.

Achievements

• Badcock is a prolific scholar of Theology and author, who has made a great contribution to the development of literature in such fields as Systematic Theology, Philosophy and Ethics.

Works

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• book

  • The House Where God Lives:

    (The Doctrine of the Church; In a culture dominated by the...)

    2009
  • The Way of Life

    (A Theology of Christian Vocation; The concept of vocation...)

    1998
  • Light of Truth & Fire of Love

    (A Theology of the Holy Spirit; Provides a valuable overvi...)

    1997

Religion

Badcock is a member of the United Church of Canada and the Church of Scotland.

Views

Scholarly publication is one of the imperatives of an academic career, and Badcock's writing has been rooted first of all in his professional concerns. He writes because it is part of his job to do so. On the other hand, he has some specific objectives in his writing, which sets it apart from much of the field. Theology is too often either unintelligent or unintelligible. His own writing is intended to bridge the gap where possible between scholarship and religious life, to produce theology that is both informed and committed, critical and faithful.

Badcock writes on the subjects he does out of a conviction of the continuing relevance of the Christian gospel and mainstream Christian theology, rightly understood, to the modern world.

Quotations: "What will I do with my life?’ is vocation’s question. God does not act out the details of my living for me, or even in me; instead, my existence is one of created freedom. Even though my entire being is dependent on God, I nevertheless choose and act, and I build my own life story through the decisions and projects that I undertake."

"My argument has been that the question ‘What ought I to do?’ really leads to another: ‘What kind of person ought I to be?’ … I ought to be a person for whom love, service, and obedience to God are the major priorities. The Christian ethic is flexible insofar as it allows a multitude of possibilities by which one can fulfill such goals, but there is nevertheless an irreducible core concern within it, which can never be relinquished."

Membership

Badcock is a member of the Society for the Study of Theology and Canadian Theological Society.

Personality

The intellectual traditions that have influenced Badcock include Platonism and Hegelianism in philosophy and, in theology, the Greek fathers, the reformers Luther and Calvin, and in the twentieth century the theological giants Karl Barth and Karl Rahner, together with a range of other, mainly European, thinkers in both the Protestant and Catholic traditions.

Connections

Badcock married Susan Dorothy Greig on February 21, 1988. They have two daughters - Hannah Elizabeth and Mairi Clara Margaret - and live in London, Canada.

Father:

Fred Badcock

Mother:

Olive (Pilgrim) Badcock

Wife:

Susan Dorothy Greig

Daughter:

Hannah Elizabeth Badcock

Daughter:

Mairi Clara Margaret Badcock